Ritual Thinking: Sexuality, Death, World

by Mario Perniola

Perniola takes his inspiration from ancient Roman religion and its demystification of myth as ritual without myth. This demystification of ritual does not entail a process of secularization nor does it compromise the sacred character of myth. Instead, it is an attempt to establish a link or a transit between the sacred and the profane. The repetitive nature of ritual thinking is an attempt to relate the individual to the "hard nuts of experience"-sexuality, death, and the vast complexity of the world.

These realities are "opaque and impenetrable, indifferent and extraneous to subjective purpose and good intentions. They appear to be 'things' that are irreducible to the life of the spirit and to its ideal aspirations." Where philosophy breaks down in coping with these actualities, ritual thinking provides a symbolic means. Today we witness the global dissemination of behaviors that have lost their original meaning. These behaviors and patterns of thought have become the modern rituals through which we cope with reality.

This composite of two works—Transits and The Society of Simulcra—by one of Italy's most innovative thinkers, here translated into English for the first time, will be invaluable to philosophers with an interest in continental philosophy.

246 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Estava procurando por livros sobre rituais na Biblioteca Universitária da Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina e me deparei com este, de Mario Perniola. Pensei que talvez pudesse me ajudar porque um dos três enfoques do livro é a sexualidade. Mas essa parte do livro deixou a desejar. O que gostei mesmo foi a parte final do livro que fala sobre rituais cerimoniais e de decoro nos rituais, baseado nas antigas culturas greco-romanas, o que me ajudou a desenvolver uma metodologia de análise para um artigo acadêmico. Contudo, o restante do livro não achei assim tão interessante quanto as últimas quarenta páginas da publicação. As demais páginas têm a intenção de pensar os rituais, pero no mucho.